The builders are in.....share the ups and downs here.....

[nappyzonecantrunfortoffee]

Been as though a few of us have the builders in i thought we could share our fun and try and get through the mire together (even though pavlos stories scared me half to shit).

SO were getting an extension built and they started Wednesday - they seem canny and we have a digger in our garden, guinea pigs at the back of the garedn i have to risk life and limb for to get too to feed and mud - loads of mud - my wellies are caked in the stuff from my guinea pig feeding missions!

Our foundations are all dug out now and most excitingly a mixy truck load of cement was barrowed round the back in to them. Wheres everyone else at?

Cake - I've put you as a mumsnet mate so you should still be able to see pics.

about hoodie. DH bought me the thickest (least flattering) dressing gown for Christmas. I wear it all the time!

(oh it's me carrot btw, namechanged!)

Bloody nora cake - hadnt realised you had been lacking heatign all this time - no wonder your peeved. Our drawings used were the ones the archi put in for plannig permission then he wrote a spec out. If you have permission and a builder has capacity i would think August is doeable but then i suppose it depends on the size of your project.

Tonight I had my last bath surrounded by tile debri - thats it now showers and washes and shared toileting in the tiny ensuite here on in till its a done job. I hope they are a spritely lot tomorow thought its about -2 and very snowy. Our guy was waiting for measurements off the architect for the lintels - archy is a bit slow and im praying he had got them and got the lintels or it will slow the knock through down and prolong the agony of bedroom sharing. Tomorow will be a big day eek.

Morning
spoke to the architect, and building drawings are a few weeks away still as we need a strutural engineer to assess things - project is fairly straight forward but quite big. We're extending our kitchen, knocking down the wall between current kitchen and dining room to make a big eat in kitchen plus we're knocking down our falling down storage room and dunny to make a proper utility room and downstairs loo that you don't have to go outside to get to. Upstairs we're making a proper sized bedroom with ensuite and the roof has to be re-slated and insulated properly so by the end of all this I hope I'll be able to change my name.
Quite a lot to do by August but being the New Year and all we're feeling super positive about it at the moment.

Don't know how you're coping without heating, Cake. I'm struggling with it, but have gone round and shut all the internal doors now!

oh no - they started knock through yesterday and put windows in situ on 2 back rooms (dd bedroom and bathroom)btu couldnt fully knock out as plumber didnt come to move the rad on dd wall which is on current external wall - i went to bed pleased as punch no dust has entered my abode and how well were coping so far - he did say yesterday as he cleaned up he had a little leak the plumber needed to sort but didnt say anymore or where it was or say it seeme urgent (plumber coming first thing today though anyway) - alas it appears he had disturbed the rad or pipework in dd room which is directly above utility as this am we went in utility and water is pissing out the light fitting and down the walls - have turned of heating and water and its slowed down a bit but i can still hear runnign water - have rang builder at 7am who said will be here within the hour and not to worry they will sort it but still looks like another room will be out of bounds and im desperate to put some washing on. The ceiling is bulging a bit and im pretty sure if plumber isnt here within the hr it will pop. I suppose ive been lucky to be glitch free so far but can feel the temperature dropping by the minute and snow is falling.......

OMG!! that sounds awful. Has the plumber got it sorted? If the heating is still off you can buy blower heaters for about £12 in Argos that work pretty well.

Amazingly we've had the brickie working yesterday and today!!! He's got an additive which protects the cement from the frost and special insulating material to cover the brickwork. I'm really pleased that they are working but I wish they'd thought of that a few weeks ago!!

Going to Wickes to order a bathroom later so feeling more cheerful

Oooooooo cake congratulations on the progress . Please update on exciting bathroom choices.....i got well into bathrooms when we played that game and just loved bathstore playing and sittign in baths lol

Yes he put 3 holes in the ceiling and drained it and its bulging and wrecked basically and will prbably split when it drys - he had knocked somethig yesterday and it seems the hole grew overnight . ANyway he said he would sort it and has and said he will ensure it doensnt happen again lol and will replace the ceiling fully downstairs where we were just getting it skimmed flat to join the new ceiling so it wil be ok - cant use the lights inthe utility room now though which is no biggy and will also get sorted with downstairs re fit- dont know when i can or if they are ocmpletely unusable now but sharnt risk it. I came back at lunchtime and it was toastie again which was such a relief though noted they were typical blokes and left the wet for me to mop up!

Today they have proper knocked through the 2 upstairs rooms (still no dust seepage - yee ha!) and started putting up frames for stud walls - i cannot beleive how little our bathroom was now its all been ripped out. Will try and add pics later of my new big space inside.

We are now held up a bit as our architect doesnt seem to be rushing getting measurements to the builder for the lintels - builder has rang again today and chased so all crossed for some info....

Cake i have a gorgeous (not) 60s style whisper peach bathroom suite here with matching taps if you want it for free

Ha ha ... our previous house had an avocado bathroom suite. I was gutted to leave that behind!

I have an avocado suite. It's LUSH

What a nightmare Nappy! Glad he's sorted it out. We have some knocking through to do downstairs towards the end of the build - I'm dreading the dust seepage situation, good news that it is controllable.

Oh and where's the photos?!

sorry they did not that well as dark and now i cant find the camera lead......... am mumsnetting in the same room as dd is sleeping so v restricted at mo sorry! Seepage was stopped as both doors have been parcel taped up on both sides - so far so good . Its really hard typing quietly shhhhhhhhh

Ok, will let you off for now!

thanks will have to go as she is really snoring and distracting my concentration g'night!

Today the first room is plasterboarded out and we have a ceiling upstairs. As promised i have added some non exciting building pics for you extension heads . The scafolding has gone also today which makes garden look a bit better and bigger now. The pics are off rubble and mess and the new bedroom and bathrrom as it was and as it is now - width of bathroom remains same but 3 m longer now - were exisitng bath was will be the walk in shower and behind in the new bit a freestandign bath type and sink/ loo etc... all exciting stuff .

The plumber was supposed to come today to first fix somemore but looking round i would say he hasnt and i came hoem at 2.30 and everyone else had gone too - it was only minus 4 jeez! I also guess archy hasnt come back either as no lintels have appeared .

Wow, it's really funny to see what the next stage will be. Love the idea of a freestanding bath.

Are you still keeping the dust out?

We had work on site Monday and Tuesday, but its snowed loads today so no builders. Couple more days work and they'll be able to start on the roof apparently {fingers crossed smiley]

Your man sounds like he has turned over anew leaf! I look fwd to more piccys from you soon........

When i say freestanding is more plonked in the middle of a long wall kind of back to wall but it is a sloped shape on either end so you couldnt really putit in a corner iyswim. Dust still out yes but it is a bit chilly upstairs because we keep opening the forbidden doors to look at it and all the outside cold air rushes in

Not sure that the brickie has turned over a new leaf, but he's skint after xmas and so needs to work . It's a bit annoying cos they've now come up with a cement additive which allows the cement to still set in minus temperatures, and they're wrapping their work in insulating sheets to protect them. Obviously we're pleased that they're getting on, but wondering why they couldn't have thought of this solution a few weeks ago

perhaps they were finishing off a previous job and the excuse suited?

Nappy, your pictures are exciting but mystifying.
DH showed a friend our extension the other day, when they came in I said 'what do you think?' he said 'I have no imagination it's just a load of wood where there's going to be walls, I'm sure it will be great though' - that's me with your pics! Could you label them saying what they are cheesy please.

Cake - a roof! That will make a big difference and mean they can get alot more done even if the weather is crap. Yay!

Oh hadnt realised were not labelled ha ha - i have labelled them now but you will still be mystfied !!

They make more sense That looks like alot more space and at the stage you are at, at the moment it will only seem bigger when finished and painted with light colours. What is going on downstairs, I can't remember. Is it one big room? We still have tonnes of snow (and still falling although crappy tiny flakes) so realistically not expecting to see the builders until next week - know it's not their fault but still

Downstairs is currently a dining room that is next door to a kitchen which is next door to a utility room and downstaitrs toilet. Downstairs utility and loo moving back in new downstairs build area (small window on back)which will adjoin a new living room also inthe new downstairs bit (has two large window holes init ) then the kitchen will be knocked through into the current utility to make a bigger kitchen - simples .

I had a moan on to dh about ours sacking of early yesterday and he said i was being unreasonable as it was below freezing and they had been on site since 8 am. Today its quite bright here and we have no new snow so i am hoping they will have done loads.

OOH, anything that ends up with a bigger kitchen is great in my book Sounds like a reasonably complicated plan, did you design it or have an architect do it?

My builders aren't here today (as expected)

The archi mainly and we were leaving downstairs untouched with just a big extra garden room on the back then dh had a brain wave the night before the brick work began and decided we should change downstairs layout and put up with some downstairs mess as it would be worth it.

I feel peed of today about it all tbh - this is the first day i have felt at all like its impacting on us and stressing me a tad. The plumber has been ill for 2 days so the builder has been doing what he can and has now done as much as he can with them 2 rooms until plumber does his bit so now as a result he wants to move onto the other room at the back of the house to keep the momentum going - this is where ds is currently housed untouched by the chaos apart from a large wardrobe thats now in his box room as well while other room out of bounds - they want his room cleared for Monday - at a squeeze his bed will fit inthe room dd is currently sleeping in where i also mumsnet and store a trillion nappies. Where the hell his bedroom furniture will then go and the wardrobe from tuther room is completely beyond me, i have a bath in my dining room and a garage full of cement mixers and god knows what so also have two nice new bikes in my kitchen from xmas. Our bedroom is brimming too and i really want a bath . And its freezing upstairs today for some reason and i am cold.

And... the sodding archi has not given the llintel measuremnets still so is really holding up things as also stopping him finishing them 2 rooms . Tomorows another day and allegedly the sparky is coming to play too but to add to the stress my parents are moving house and because my mum is not fully mobile and my dad is a stress head i have taken on the coordination of that task too .

GAWD Nappy! No wonder you are feeling stressed!

Good luck for tomorrow.
I feel your non-progression-of-extension pain

Thanks , i have tidied up my front room and de-toyed it and made room under the stairs and made the bikes disapear so feel a tiny bit better. Dh has given me his laptop to play on and its snowing so much over near where my parents are i am not actually convinced they will be able to move tomorow but god i hope they can as that saga has dragged on for months.....

Im going to now have a baileys